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Credit: Marvel StudiosThor: Love and Thunder (2022) have already been banned in China due to a few seconds making the government not allow the film to be shown in their country.
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Most of Phase Four has shockingly been censored or banned in theaters leaving fans to wonder if this will be the new trend. Fans knew this could happen after learning that Valkyrie’s sexuality would be explored and Taika Waititi admitting the film was “super gay!” Now that the movie is out in theaters, fans have gotten to see it and the movie only has a few seconds with maybe four to five lines mentioning anything LGBTQ+ related.
Taika Waititi’s Korg reveals that his alien race holds hands next to lava to create new offspring which happens with two males and suddenly makes this scene gay for some viewers. The Hollywood Reporter shares that several China insiders have confirmed that the movie has been banned for the same reasons as Lightyear (2022).
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They share that the movie’s brief moments won’t even lead to a censored version of the film as it won’t be shown in any theater:
Beijing’s censors never explain nor comment publicly on their decisions, but industry participants inside and outside of China scrutinize such moves carefully and back-channel with authorities to ascertain where the lines are drawn.
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The source also points out that Thor: Ragnarok (2017) made $112 million in China so Thor 4 may suffer without the additional box office help from Chinese theaters:
Thor: Ragnarok earned $112 million in China back in 2017, so losing the Middle Kingdom market certainly will ding Love and Thunder’s worldwide sales total. More significant for Disney, however, is the fact that Thor is far from the only Marvel hero to face China’s censors’ wrath. After nearly a decade as arguably China’s favorite Hollywood film franchise, Marvel has seen its last seven Hollywood tentpoles go unreleased in the country. Industry watchers have hypothesized different reasons for why each film fell afoul of regulators — but the longer the trend continues, the more it has begun to look like a deliberate effort to dim Marvel’s local popularity.
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While this isn’t very surprising, Marvel is losing millions just to include only a few controversial seconds into the movie so it will be interesting to see if this trend will continue or if Disney will go back to allowing censored versions of the MCU movies going forward.
More on Thor: Love and Thunder
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Here’s an official description of Thor’s next adventure:
The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.
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Phase Four has started off with a lot of content for Marvel fans to look forward to in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On Disney+  you can watch Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk on August 17. For movies, Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness is now on Disney+ with  Thor: Love and Thunder in theaters right now, and of course, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releasing on November 11.
